The Crotchety Mechanic
by Crystalkei
Summary: Reynolds needs to retrieve the broken down rover before anyone can notice but he's not really a mechanic. He's going to need some help. Post episode missing scene from 1x07 Nightfall.


In the chaos of whatever had gone down at Terra Nova last night, Mark Reynolds found it very easy to slip into the showers and clean himself up. The problem was going to be figuring out how to get the fried rover back. As he scrubbed nasty mud, sweat, and grim off himself he ran through a list of people who could both fix the rover and wouldn't rat him out.

He guessed there was a recall last night. No power to the colony meant no power to the fence, meaning a need for more manpower, even those off duty, but hopefully those in charge had just dismissed him as someone stuck somewhere between a door that was fried. When he'd gotten in he'd heard a few guys talking about some people being trapped for that very reason. So first on the to do list, check in, next, find someone to help him with the rover before Transportation noticed it was missing.

Outside the barracks Reynolds spotted the person he was looking for. He jogged towards the disheveled man, well, disheveled as a soldier could be. Graying prematurely, tired eyes, and the most awful mustache made the man look crotchety. He was older than Reynolds by 10 years at the most but he looked more like 20 years older. He was the best mechanic this little military had and Reynolds knew his weak spot.

"Pollack," he called as he caught up with the man. Pollack nodded in greeting and slowed his step a bit. "Hey, uh, I need a favor," Reynolds whispered.

"Shocking," Pollack said with a roll of his eyes. "I assume this has to do with the missing rover. Rover number five, the one you favor because you say the suspension is better than all the others?"

"You noticed it was gone?" Reynolds cringed.

"Did I notice it was gone? Are you fucking serious?" he said with a scoff. "I may not be the head of Transportation, but I know how many rovers we have. I know which ones are loaned to outposts, I know which ones are broken and in my lifts, I know which ones we're stripping for parts because some damn dino took a chunk out of them. Sears maybe in charge of the shop, but he's too busy sneaking drinks to notice anything. But I know."

"So you're still mad about not getting that promotion, huh?" Reynolds joked trying to steer the conversation away from his personal transgressions. Pollack just glared. "Right, so about the rover…it's in Sector B. Fried. Can you help me get it back?"

"You got something to trade?" the scruffy man asked seriously.

"Yeah, I got it, just, follow my lead, alright?"

"I love it when people act like I'm more monkey less grease. Makes me feel so intelligent," he said bitingly. "If we get caught, I'll sell you out faster than the mess hall runs out of ice cream."

The two men reached Lieutenant Washington and the crowd of soldiers awaiting instructions for the oncoming shift and stood in the back. The lieutenant handed out assignments before noticing Reynolds in the back.

"Sergeant Reynolds," she called him out. "So sorry to hear that our little disaster interrupted your 48, care to share where you were holed up while we were triple manning the fence?"

"Got stuck in the tool closet, ma'am." He surprised himself at the easy lie. "It's a small space to be trapped in, good thing I don't suffer from claustrophobia like Grant," he said trying to deflect attention.

"Tool closet's a funny place to be hanging out when you've got 48 hours of no duty," she replied skeptically.

"Yeah," he drawled stalling for time. "I was going to help build a shelf over at the Shannon's house but got stuck in the closet. Waste of my 48, for sure. "

The stern woman seemed to buy the line because she stopped staring him down. "Sorry we had to recall all those 48s. I'm sure that certain members of the Shannon family would have loved to have room for books."

Reynolds pressed his lips tightly together and nodded his head in good humor while catcalls and whistles were made. Everyone seemed to know exactly whom she was referring to, stupid small colony and it's gossip mill.

"Moving on, folks," she said getting the crowd under control and continuing with the assignments. "Swain and Pollack, you guys head out to outpost four. They've got some mechanical issues with the bio pods." Mark saw his chance and elbowed Pollack. He grunted and then raised his hand.

"Lieutenant," Pollack said quickly. When she turned to him he hesitated and then spoke, "I need Reynolds to help me with those pods."

"Really?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, uh, those pods are tight and he's got smaller hands than Swain," he lied and Reynolds forced his eyes closed. He should have known that Pollack would not make this dignified. He was going to take every chance to mock him. The laughter started and even the lieutenant had a sort of grimace on her face from trying not to laugh.

"Fine, Swain, you're with Turner," she said quickly and dismissed everyone.

"Let's go find fix this shit so we can find my damn rover," Pollack said gruffly.

"Please," Mark said with a frustrated sigh.

Both men easily fixed the bio pods that the outpost was having trouble with. Reynolds didn't mind helping; it wasn't boring work. It was intricate and he enjoyed the chatter of Pollack as he told him which cog needed moving or which screw needed tightening.

Reynolds liked listening to people. He didn't like talking. Talking meant you could say something wrong, but you could never go amiss just listening. Maddy had no idea how perfect she was for him, although, he'd grown to love talking to her and was becoming more and more comfortable speaking to her. He wasn't afraid to say what he meant, or say anything really, even if he said it wrong, she didn't seem to mind too much.

Once they finally made it to the abandoned rover it was early afternoon and Pollack was getting even crankier. Not that Reynolds had ever seen him in any mood other than cranky.

"Did you bring me a new circuit board, genius?" he said as he looked over the vehicle.

"Yeah, got it right here," he said handing the older man the chip. "It's just a quick fix, right?"

"Sure," Pollack grunted with his head seemingly buried in the back where the engine was. "Hand me that tool box." Reynolds set the box next to him and leaned against the rover. "What the fuck were you doing out here, anyways? It's not like you to sneak out like that."

"Aw," Reynolds said smiling. "You sound like care, Pollack. That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." He laughed and Pollack scoffed. "No, literally," Mark said seriously. "That is the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Forget I asked," Pollack said before grumbling about fried circuits and having the wrong sized wrench.

Reynolds glanced around and noticed the flowers in the far off meadow. He wished he'd been able to snap a picture of Maddy surrounded by all the flowers. Didn't matter now, though, they were all wilted and black. She was right about the flowers, 24 hours and they were done.

"I don't know what you see in that girl," Pollack said under his breath, but Reynolds caught it.

"Um, she's gorgeous?" he gave the answer he gave all his friends. He didn't really want to share any pertinent info about Maddy. He liked that he was the only one that knew how special she was.

"Teenagers in this colony are nothing but pains in the ass," Pollack groaned. "I don't know why any of you kids would want anything to do with them."

"Are you gonna start kicking people off your lawn with your cane, grandpa?" he joked. "Besides, it's not like I'm that much older than her," he said curtly. "Not like you, what are you, like a hundred?"

"None of your goddamn business," he replied, head still under the back hood.

"Yeah, most of the teenagers are idiots, including her brother," Mark said shrugging. "But she's not."

"She must be a good lay or something for you to put up with Taylor's courting bull shit and to be staring down a very imminent death at the hands of Daddy Shannon."

"Hey," Mark said harshly pushing his back against the rover and causing Pollack to lose his tool and bump his head. "It's not about that."

"Whatever you say, Casanova." Pollack retrieved his tool and stared at Reynolds with raised eyebrows.

"She's smarter than you, she's smarter than probably anyone in Terra Nova," Mark defended. "She's brilliant with numbers, and facts, and science and she knew that an EMP took everything out yesterday. How does a person just know that without any background?" he paused and the corner of Pollack's mouth rose in a knowing smile. "Maddy is kind and brave and she's funny and have you seen her hair? It glows. Like, how does that even work? It's the shiniest hair I've ever seen. And that's even after I smeared mud all over her."

"Now we've taken a turn for the kinky," Pollack teased but Mark saw there was no malice there. He rolled his eyes.

"We got stuck out here all night," he said with a sigh.

"Whatever you say, soldier." He went back to working on the circuit and Mark returned to his easy stance against the rover. "Of course, that explains the stench."

"We had to camouflage ourselves," he explained.

"Sure."

"Why'd you do that?" Mark asked after a few minutes of silence. "Why'd you make me defend her like that?"

"Because I'm a prick," he replied.

"That's true, but why? Really?"

"Just preparing you," he muttered still fiddling with the tools. "All the teasing, catcalls, that's just preliminary. These guys are gonna gang up on you, they're gonna say shitty things, especially if you blow them off for her."

Mark took a moment to process what Pollack said. He was right. He remembered when Tully, a guy in his section, had gotten married last year. The soldiers never missed a chance to tease and goad him. Even still.

"I'd skip the part about her hair," Pollack said pulling Reynolds back to reality. "That's just begging for someone to mock you."

"Thanks, man," he said genuinely. "I owe you one."

"No, you owe me six." Mark's shoulders slumped.

"Alright, six, but I've only got one right now," he said cautiously.

"Fine, I won't charge you interest," he said. "But only because you're going to need to save everything you've got. Gonna have to make an honest woman out of that Shannon girl in a few years and listen, women are not cheap."

Mark laughed uncomfortably. He really didn't want to dare think that far in the future but he'd be lying if he said it never crossed his mind. Still, he wasn't ready to joke about it.

"Dude! I fixed the car!" Pollack said with a strange lilt that Mark had never heard.

"Huh?"

"It's a…it's from a ridiculous film, it's like 100 years old," he explained nonchalantly.

"Like you?" the younger man prodded.

"Yes, like me, you jerk off," he answered shaking his head.

"You have a taste for ancient cinema?" Reynolds asked perplexed.

"No, my ex wife did," he said moving to the front of the vehicle running his hand over parts of the rover, presumably checking the lights.

"You were married?" he asked, his interest piqued.

"Yep," he answered easily. "They even said she could come through the portal with me. That's when you know a woman really hates you, she'd rather stay in a dying city not able to breathe the air than live with you."

"I'm sorry, man, that's awful." Reynolds suddenly understood why Pollack was such an ass. He imagined that if a woman, god, if Maddy ever treated him like that, he'd be pretty bitter, too.

"Don't worry about it, kid," Pollack said with a shrug. "It won't happen to you." He realized his face must have become somber and he tried to school his features.

"Alright, give it a try so we can get the hell out of here and you can get me my payment," Pollack ordered.

After both men made it back to the motor pool and checked the rovers back in, they started the walk back to the barracks but Pollack stopped abruptly after just a few steps. "Oh, great, your woman's here," he said nodding to the girl walking towards them. Pollack started to go.

"You don't want to meet her?" Mark grinned.

"No thanks, I'll wait for my invitation to the reception," Pollack said shortly. "Just bring me my fee later, but no later than 2200. This grandpa has a strict bedtime."

Mark waved at Pollack as Maddy made her way to him. "So you're in the clear?" she asked anxiously.

"Yeah, thanks to that old man," he said fondly. "You?"

"Nobody even noticed," she said shrugging her shoulders. "I'm half relieved, half irritated that nobody missed me."

"I would have noticed," Mark said smiling. "If you were gone that long, I'd send out 16 search parties." Maddy returned his smile and then looked away towards where Pollack had exited.

"What did he mean when he said fee?"

"Oh, yeah, Pollack has an insane love of peanut butter," he explained. "You pay him by smuggling whole jars out of the mess hall. After today I owe him six jars."

"Wow," she replied. "Strange addiction."

"Yeah," he agreed while taking her hand and pulling her closer to the fence and out of the sight of most people walking around. He looked around for a moment and then looked at her lips a moment before raising his eyebrows as if asking permission. She beat him to it by standing on her tiptoes and kissing him. "By the way," he said in between quick kisses. "If anyone asks, I was stuck in a tool closet because I was supposed to build you a book shelf." Maddy giggled and gave him another chaste kiss.

"I don't even have any books, they're all on the data pad."

"Well you could use it for knick knacks or something," he said tilting his head. She raised her eyebrows.

"Knick knacks?" she asked before he kissed her again.

"Are we about to have a fight about a fictional bookshelf?" he teased. She shook her head and smiled.

"I've got to go," she said. "I need another shower. Is this stench ever going to come out of my hair?" he laughed.

"Soon, but I didn't even notice." Mark twirled some of her hair on his fingers.

"Because you think I'm perfect?" Maddy asked shyly.

"Yep," he said before he kissed her forehead.

"Worth six jars of peanut butter?" she asked with a sly smile.

"Definitely."


End file.
